For my last unit of Forbidden Books, I got to pick a book that was censored in some time, given to us by our teacher. After reading it, we started to view other people’s books that they chose, and see why that might that might have been censored, by reading some passages from it. Then, why our own book might be censored, and hear other people’s thoughts on the book. The book I chose was Fahrenheit 451, which was written by Ray Bradbury, originally in 1953; I chose this book, because it seemed interesting to me that a book was made about people who personally burn books to stop people from reading them. Leading me to the action project, after we reading this book, we had to write an essay talking about a certain topic, that would show/explain why this books was censored and the theme of the book. The purpose of this was firstly to see why some books are censored, and secondly to see what information they talk about explaining why it might be censored. This was interesting to do, mainly because it showed me how sometimes, some censorships are for really silly reasons; also to see how people want to ban books, that actually have some really good content that we need to learn about. Something that was difficult was having my thesis statement, and making sure that everything I had in my essay would still connect with that statement all the way through.
For unit 2 of my Forbidden Books class we learned more about religions; where it started and how and the prophets were involved with Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, and their role in censorship. Then we learned more about how governments started to censor more things to gain political power. For the action project we were given a list of censorship cases that happen at different countries and times, but also we had to just research what was going on in the country at the time and how that lead to the censorship. I picked the Military Dictatorship in Brazil during 1964 - 1985, I thought this would be more interesting to learn how a military would censor different things to gain power and see what different things they would censor. Also this was a huge event that happened in Brazil, and is seen as one of the worst times for the Brazilian citizens, which was surprising to me since I never heard of it before. The purpose of this was to see how governments would censor items and why they chose to do that. I really liked this action project because it really pushed me to work harder, mainly because a lot of my sources that started out with had the same story, but different dates. To me censorship is really only justified if it is very small or specific, but I don't think big picture ones are justified. For example, dictatorship and them using censorship to gain power, but when it used to help keep a child from seeing things they aren't ready for, I think that would be justifiable.
For Unit 1 of my Forbidden Books class, we learned about ancient Greece and how their life styles were influenced by the land and the knowledge that around them. One of the main things we went over was the father of philosophy Socrates and his Socratic method, which is the method he would use to learn more things about the world. The method was to ask questions about everything around him to learn about it and the different perspectives take it to have an idea about it. Back in ancient Greece that was considered dangerous, because he taught it to kids and parents didn’t like their kids asking too many questions, they found it as him corrupting the youth. It was also found dangerous because, it raised to much criticism in the community. For the action project we had to use this method on a certain topic and create a conversation between two people, with one person asking about that certain topic. The topic I chose was justice, since everyone has some many different views subject. Enjoy!
Characters:
Arthur (Character 1, played by NVA)
Gracius (Character 2, played by AA)
Setting - Dolipolis Cafe
NVA - Hey, Gracius you look very glad today, why is that?
AA - I am signing some papers, because I am the new supreme court judge, meaning I will be able to provide true justice.
NVA - That’s great, but why is that so great? What is true justice?
AA - Everyone knows that a judge does people justice for the person who needs it, so the plaintiff is who would need it. And true justice basically, is an appropriate punishment for a wrong doing.
NVA - Yes, but,what about the defendant, do they not deserve the same justice given to the other person? And how do we know they did a wrong doing who is to tell?
AA - Well they don’t get the same justice because they broke their control over their justice when they did their wrongdoing, and the jury is to tell what justice they deserve.
NVA - Okay, but how do you know they deserve the “Justice” that is given, how is that truly determined?
AA - Well, that would be determined by evidence used to prove the fact if they deserve the punishment, and once there is enough, the jury is to say what they deserve and I will determine what will be done about the matter that needs to be resolved.
NVA - So justice is only proven by evidence and people without a law degree? That is Justice?
AA - Yes, but the evidence are facts, and people without a law degree are to say what they deserve, because they have common sense and knowledge about different things, and with that they can prove whether they are guilty or not. Also they usually have different backgrounds giving the verdict more perspective, because of they were raised to think differently.
NVA - Yes, but everyone has different common sense and what if they are biased or have something very personal with the case and lie about it? Is that really what our Justice is based on today?
AA - Well I am sure that we would be able to tell if they are lying to us about it.
NVA - I can see where you are coming from, but I think there are more questions that need to be answered, and you have helped me a lot in understanding Justice! Thank you.
AA - You have definitely helped me think of my own version of justice and how I can make it better for everyone. Thank you for showing me this new idea and make sure you don’t lose control of your justice! NVA - I will make sure!
